Argentina booked a place in the World Cup quarterfinals with a dramatic 3-2 comeback win over Egypt, but the victory was overshadowed by VAR controversy, post-match fan tensions and a separate racism investigation involving Argentina supporters.
The defending champions scored three goals in the final 13 minutes at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Tuesday, overturning Egypt’s lead in a match that ended in frustration for the North African side.
Online footage appeared to show fans from both sides trading insults and throwing objects after the final whistle, as security staff tried to keep the groups apart.
Tensions were also heightened by refereeing decisions that drew criticism from Egypt’s bench and football association.
Egypt manager Hossam Hassan claimed after the match that a legitimate Egypt goal had been wrongly disallowed and that Argentina’s winner should have been ruled out for a foul.
Hassan said the World Cup appeared to be “directed towards Argentina,” and described the officiating as “unfair” to Egypt.
The Egyptian Football Association also expressed dissatisfaction over several key refereeing decisions and filed a formal complaint with FIFA, calling for a review of VAR consistency and fairness.
FIFA refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina defended the decisions, saying match officials acted independently and applied consistent standards.
He said VAR undertakes a comprehensive review of the entire attacking sequence following every goal and will recommend an on-field review to the referee should any offence that impacts the goal be identified.
Collina said VAR had correctly identified a foul by Marwan Attia on Argentina defender Lisandro Martinez in the build-up to Egypt’s disallowed goal.
He also defended the decision not to award Egypt a penalty before Argentina’s winner, saying both the referee and VAR judged the contact between Mohamed Salah and Julian Alvarez to be “normal football contact.”
Despite the painful defeat, Egypt recorded its best-ever World Cup performance, reaching the knockout stage and pushing the defending champions to the brink.
IShowSpeed targeted with racist abuse
Separately, another Argentina match has drawn global condemnation after popular YouTuber IShowSpeed was allegedly subjected to racist abuse during the team’s game against Cape Verde last Friday.
The 21-year-old streamer, who was supporting Cape Verde and wearing the team’s jersey during a livestream, was reportedly told by an Argentina fan to “go cry at the zoo.” Reports also said another fan appeared to make monkey gestures at him from the opposite stand.
FIFA has launched an investigation into the incident and condemned racism, hate and discrimination in football.
IShowSpeed, whose real name is Darren Watkins Jr, has more than 57 million YouTube subscribers and 53 million followers on TikTok, and has attended and streamed several World Cup matches under a deal with FIFA.
